NASA has finished fueling the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, moving it closer to its planned launch on August 30, according to aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org.
The space agency confirmed the fueling milestone, which is a critical step before the telescope can be mounted on a rocket and sent into orbit. The Roman telescope is designed to study dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astronomy.
The telescope, named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, will use a 2.4-meter mirror — the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope’s primary mirror — but with a much wider field of view. Its instruments include a wide-field camera and a coronagraph that can block starlight to directly image exoplanets.
NASA has scheduled a media briefing next month to discuss the mission, the agency stated in a separate announcement. The telescope is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
The Roman mission is set to survey billions of galaxies and search for planets beyond our solar system, including potentially Earth-like worlds. Its coronagraph technology, which uses shape-shifting mirrors, could help reveal Jupiter-like planets in other star systems, MIT Technology Review reported.
All eyes are now on the August 30 launch window as final preparations continue.
